"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Shining City On The Hill

I am old enough to re4member that speech by Reagan…..btw, not an original quote, I believe it came from a 16th century preacher, Reagan was talking about democracy, American democracy and how it was being portrayed around the world……as the hope for mankind…..it was especially aimed at the now defunct USSR…..convincing the commies that there was a better way and a better government of the people, by the people and for the people…….

My how things change……if Reagan were alive today he would be labeled a RINO because his governing style does not fit well with those pea brains from the Tea Party…….but beyond that…how odes it play today?

(Newser) – A group of 49 Russians is in DC as part of a US-funded exchange program to witness American democracy in action. Just one problem: There’s very little action right now. “This step, to shut down the government, is inconceivable,” says one Russian journalist. “French people are said to be the most freedom-loving [people]. Even the French wouldn’t be able to do such things.” Ouch. Ironically, the Open World Leadership Center, which runs the exchange, still has enough of its $8 million annual funding to keep the Russians here, despite the shutdown, reports the Washington Post. It just doesn’t have a lot to show them.

They haven’t been able to organize many meetings, because so many staffers are furloughed. They haven’t been to the museums, because they’re closed. And their lectures are taking place in an Embassy Suites, rather than the Library of Congress. One Russian teacher jokes that DC is actually running surprisingly well without a government—a situation really more akin to socialism than democracy. “Maybe you will come to communism soon!” he says. “No government … but people are still managing!”

It seems that the lights are going out on that ‘shining city’…..I can tell you that this observation is NOT unique to Russians……my contacts around the world are asking…..what happen to that example of how much better democracy is that anything else”?

Yes, it was John Winthrop, leader of the Puritans, who called Massachusetts Bay Colony “a City upon a Hill” in a 1630 sermon titled “A Model of Christian Charity,” Reagan added the shining part, expanded it to mean all of America, and total forgot about that Christian Charity part.